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Philly picks company to build and run bike share, to open in 2015

After an extended planning process, Andrew Stober of the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities says Philadelphia has selected a team with homegrown roots to create a bike share program here.

“We’ve chosen a team of Bicycle Transit Systems which is going to be the operator of the system,” Stober said. “They are a Philadelphia-based firm that has brought together folks who were very involved in the implementation Washington DC, Boston and Chicago systems to plan and operate Philadelphia’s system.”

The bikes themselves and rental stations will be supplied by B-cycle which supplies 30 other U.S. cities. The company grew out of the Trek Bicycle corporation.

Mayor Michael Nutter says to make sure everyone can use the bike share, the city obtained a grant so even those who don’t have a credit card can rent a bike. Nutter is still seeking a corporate sponsor for the program.

“You are going to have people riding bikes all over the city of Philadelphia with possibly your company’s name and logo on them,” said Nutter. “Sometimes, as they say, that type of advertising can be priceless.”

But don’t rush out trying to find a bike share station yet. It will take six months for the equipment to arrive, so while the the system was supposed to be ready this fall, it will kick off in spring 2015.